Deception
by ThatGirlWithTheSmirk
Summary: When the Greeks try to enter the Roman camp, Joel finds herself struggling to impress her half-sibling. In an attempt to help her fellow Greeks, she goes undercover as a new Camp Jupiter camper to convince Reyna to let them in. Quickly, she finds herself a bit deeper in her original plan than intended.
1. Chapter 1

"Let's keep this clear, Joel," Annabeth said as they approached the Roman camp. "The only reason you're here is to help negotiate."

Joel blew a piece of her dark auburn bangs out of her face and rolled her olive green eyes.

"I know."

She knew she was pretty useless on the battle field. Her thin, lanky figure made training hard for her and embarrassed her as a demigod. She felt like the only one who didn't enjoy capture the flag or sword fighting. She'd much rather work out plans for those who were fighting. Her logical mind made negotiating easy to her. It was like an Athena child version of charm speaking.

It was understandable to some; once they found out she was a daughter of Athena, why she enjoyed strategizing so much. But even 'normal' Athena kids liked to fight in some way or form. Then again, she wasn't the normal Athena child. She had no physical traits from her mother at all. No stormy grey eyes, no blonde hair, none of the usual traits. Mentally, however, she had everything on the checklist.

Through the clouds, the camp came into view. Everyone was in a mad dash to get everything prepared and orderly. They landed and walked off the ship, first Jason, then Piper and Leo, Annabeth, Gleeson Hedge and, lastly, Joel. All of them had their hands in the air to prove they had no weapons drawn. The Romans weren't so friendly. It was like everyone was there with their weapons drawn.

The five of them walked to the middle of a bridge that crossed the Little Tiber River. They were met there by a young woman with regal black hair wearing a purple toga-like thing, and other important looking people.

The black-haired girl's eyes widened when she saw Jason, but she kept composure.

"I take it you are from the Greek camp," she stated.

"Correct," Annabeth said. "And you are?"

"I am Reyna, praetor of the Twelfth Legion and senator of New Rome," she eyed them all suspiciously. "That's all you need to know."

Annabeth nodded content.

"I am Annabeth, daughter of Athena, this is Piper, daughter of Aphrodite, he is Leo, son of Hephaestus, Gleeson Hedge, one of our satyrs, and I believe you already know Jason," she smiled.

Joel's eyes narrowed. She was beginning to dislike her half sister. By no means was she ever rude to her, if anything, she was the opposite. She admired Annabeth, but never fell all over her in an annoying fashion. It made no sense why she didn't remember or acknowledge her at all.

Joel zoned back into reality and she realized the negotiating wasn't going too well. She pushed her glasses up onto her nose and slowly snuck away.

As she left unnoticed, she was finally glad that her 'near invisibility' came in handy. She followed the river until she came to another stone bridge, that she easily crossed, thanks to everyone being preoccupied with her fellow Greeks. She strolled into a nearby cabin and grabbed a simple purple shirt. It said nothing, but it didn't have Camp Half-Blood printed on it, and that's all that needed to be said She smiled.

"Perfect."

She slipped off her Camp Half-Blood tee-shirt, stuffed it in her bag and put on the purple one. A sick feeling came over her as she did. If her plan failed, she, and her friends, would likely be killed, but she had to try.

Carefully, she slipped into the crowd of gathered Romans and worked her way up to the front. Whispers were flying everywhere and Joel had no idea what was going on. She moved past the armed Romans, who had lowered their weapons either out of friendliness or shock... probably the latter. Joel stopped when she saw Reyna's back.

"...And why would I trust you all?" she shouted. "What if you were to raid our camp or worse...?"

"Excuse me, Reyna?" Joel spoke up.

Her head turned over her shoulders and her dark eyes fixed on the young girl.

"Who are you?" she scowled. "And why can't you see I'm busy?"

Joel walked up to her side.

"I am Joel, daughter of Minerva," she heard a few gasps from her fellow Greeks across the bridge. "I'm new here, but if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to help you with these five."

"Go ahead, then," she said reluctantly.

"I understand your fears of these new people entering Camp Jupiter and they are all completely rational," she reassured. "But look at the pros and cons. Yes, they may try to mess up New Rome, but, at the same time, we could end a bitter hatred between the Greeks and Romans. I'm not saying you have to love them, just see them as you would a fellow man instead of an enemy. And if this hasn't convinced you, if these four tried to do anything out of line, all of Camp Jupiter would be surrounding them. I do not doubt their skills in battle, but five against a Roman army of highly trained demigods? Who would have the upper hand?"

Joel smiled confidently. She saw pride in Reyna's eyes as she had spoke.

"Fine, you request to enter our camp is accepted, but please do not step out of line."

Jason, Piper, Leo, and Annabeth sighed in relief.

"Follow me," she ordered.

The crowd split down the middle and allowed them by. As they did, Annabeth caught Joel by the shoulder.

"That was a very stupid thing to do," she whispered.

Joel's smile faded.

"What?!" she hissed. "I just gained you entrance into this camp!"

"I didn't say it wasn't appreciated, it was just a stupid way to do it."

A flare of anger went off in Joel's head. Why couldn't she impress this girl?

Before her anger could completely take over she stalked away. Leaving the others to question her and her actions.

She made her way into a temple, it looked ordinary enough at first but found it was full of stuffed animals. Joel roamed around them, forgetting her anger for a moment. They were sorted into two piles; the intact pile and the 'stuffed-guts-are-all-over-the-place' pile.

"The Hades?" she muttered to herself.

"Hey! What're you doing in here?" a voice demanded.

A tall, thin boy with blonde hair and wild blue eyes had entered. He wore a plain blue shirt with blue jeans and a toga over them. He carried a small knife with him as well.

"I didn't know I wasn't allowed to be," she said, smoothly. "I'm new here."

"You're that new Joel boy-" he began.

"Girl," she corrected with a growl.

The blonde boy raised an eyebrow.

"You could've fooled me," he smirked. "What's with the weird haircut? You look like a cockatoo."

"I didn't like to put it up, so I just cut it boy-short. I'll ignore your statement about how in looks like an Australian parrot," she cleaned her glasses on her shirt. "Now who are you?"

"You don't know?" he asked in mock surprise. "Guess."

"Guess what?"

"My name or, better yet, who I'm named after," he stated.

"How am I supposed to guess?" Joel questioned.

"I think it's fairly easy, and you _act _smart, so guess."

"What do I get if I guess correctly?" she challenged.

"The satisfaction of getting it right isn't enough?" he asked rhetorically.

Joel shook her head.

"You know, I'm so sure that you _won't_ get this, that if you do, I'll right you a letter of recommendation to get you into the First Cohort," he wagered.

_'I have no idea what the First Cohort is,' _Joel thought. _'But it sounds nice.'_

"Alright," she accepted. She always enjoyed a good intellectual challenge.

"Good luck," he laughed, leisurely putting his arms behind his head. "You have till dinner time, so about five minutes."

That's when Joel caught his SPQR tattoo. It had a lyre.

_'Maybe he's a child of Apollo? No, what child of Apollo cuts open stuffed animals. That's harsh even by Roman standards... Wait, wasn't there some Roman guy from way back that served under Julius Caesar? Yeah, I know him from Honors World History! What was that guy's name? Octagon? No, that's in Geometry. Octagonal? Close, but no. Oct-something...hmm...'_

Joel's eyes flew open. "Octavian!"

"Huh?" he replied lazily.

"You! You're Octavian, a descendent of Apollo I'd guess."

"You actually got it," he sounded slightly surprised but otherwise unimpressed.

Joel sent a silent thanks to her World History teacher.

Octavian sighed and grabbed a pen and his nearest notebook. He scribbled down something and wrote solidly until the call for dinner was made. He tore out the page and handed it to her.

"Thanks," she smiled, folding the note.

He scoffed. "You should be. No one gets into the First Cohort without a very good note of recommendation. Now let's go to dinner."

They walked in silence to dinner. Until Joel stopped him outside the doors.

"Do I really look like a guy?" she asked.

"Maybe you should get a more feminine name or grow your hair out," he said, avoiding the answer.

"Oh, shut up," she pushed her glasses up again and opened the doors.


	2. Chapter 2

Silence. Not the first word you think of when you hear: dinner or mess hall. But that's exactly what came about when they walked in.

"Sorry I'm late," Octavian called to Reyna, not sounding the least bit sorry at all. "I was helping the new kid."

"Well, that's no excuse, Octavian, and not a good way to start out your time at camp Ms...?" she trailed off.

"Quinn," Joel responded quickly. "Joel Quinn."

"I hope this tardiness will not happen again, Ms. Quinn," Reyna said strongly. "If it does then don't bother coming."

"Yes, ma'am," Joel mumbled, earning a snicker from Octavian.

"Before we continue, in case anyone didn't know, these," she gestured to Annabeth, Leo, and Piper. "Are our Greek _guests _from Camp Half-Blood. Also, our former praetor Jason is back."

A loud amount of cheers and wolf-whistling began, but Reyna did not stop them. She herself was very glad to have him back. A small smile placed on her lips told Joel more about her previous relationship with him. She suddenly felt a sad pang for Piper, who she was sure was finding it hard to cope with all of this. And then another pang for Reyna who had do deal with it as well.

Joel looked up to Octavian. He seemed mad about something, she followed his gaze to Jason, who was waving to his Roman friends. She was pretty sure Octavian wasn't one of those friends however. She had half a mind to ask him why he looked so mad at Jason (after all he was a great hero), but decided against it.

As the noise died Joel took a seat at the table with Annabeth. She fiddled with the note in her hand. Unfolding it, she found that all it read was:

_You don't have what it takes to be in the First Cohort._

She clenched the note in her fist and shot him a glare. He noticed it and, for a second, grinned. His eyes glinted in a fashion that suggested he had wanted to see her crash and burn from the beginning. Joel gritted her teeth.

_'Calm down,' _she told herself. _'At least you didn't actually give the note to Reyna. But still, that Octavian kid...I can't even- who would do such a thing? Going back on his word like that. I can't trust him'_

Annabeth shook her from her thoughts.

"What exactly are you doing?" she whispered in Joel's ear.

"Pretending to be Roman."

"Why? There's no point," she questioned.

"I want to know the differences in our camps first hand," Joel said.

"They'll find you out," Annabeth warned. "Like when you use Greek terms, for instance."

Joel bit her lip. She hadn't completely accounted for that. She knew the basic god names, but not the minor ones. Gods, what if she slipped up?

"I'll be fine," she lied. "Just go save the world."

When Annabeth turned away, she added, "Like you always do."

As dinner was heading for a close, Reyna called for silence once more.

"Before I dismiss everyone, we have a new camper to take care of. Ms. Quinn, do you have a letter of recommendation?" she asked.

She looked down at the crumpled note in her hands. "No, I do not."

Reyna remained stoic and asked the rest of the camp, "Is there anyone who would like to sponsor her?"

No one answered. Just short whispers filled the air. Joel looked over to Octavian again, his eyes were taunting her and his arms were crossed in success. She wondered why he wanted to see her like this. It wasn't like she was someone to fear. She was in no position of power that would threaten him. If anything she was at the lowest rank possible. While pondering this, she barely heard someone nearby speak up.

"I'll sponsor her."

A few gasps were heard and campers no longer whispered, but shouted aloud. In all the commotion she couldn't tell who had chosen to sponsor her. Once Reyna realized the commotion wasn't going to die anytime soon, she brought out her inner battle cry voice and commanded quiet.

"Are you sure about this, Jason?" she asked.

Joel's head whipped around. Jason had chosen to sponsor her? They barely knew each other, not that she was complaining. She knew he was highly respected here.

"Yes," he said. "She can take my place in the Fifth Cohort while I help out in Greece. I have a feeling she'll be fine."

"If you say so," Reyna agreed hesitantly. "Does anyone second this?"

"Seconded," a random voice out of the crowd called. Joel couldn't see who it was.

"Alright, Joel Quinn, if our former praetor allows it, then you will stay in the Fifth Cohort," Reyna muttered. "You're dismissed."

Everyone jumped up and left the mess hall. Joel caught a glimpse of Octavian, who seemed pretty smug with himself. Joel tried to catch up with Jason, but he was crowed by old Roman friends. She caught Leo by the shoulder instead.

"Hey! How's our new Roman girl doing?" he said with a wink.

"I'm fine, but if you get a chance would you thank Jason for me?" Joel said. "I don't think I'll be getting much of a chance to tell him anytime soon."

"No problem," he saluted. "Can you tell me something?"

Joel nodded.

"Why were you with that Octavian kid?"

"I sort of wandered into the temple where he sacrifices stuffed animals. Weird right?" she laughed at his confused face. "And, get this, he told me he'd give me a letter to get into the First Cohort-"

"But you didn't."

"I'm getting to that. Anyways, all I had to do was guess his name or who he was named after. Which I did, and he writes me a letter, like he said. But once I get in here and I sit down, I opened the note and," she handed him the note, watching his face as he scanned the sheet.

"That's pretty cold," he said, handing the note back.

Joel smiled. "I'm going to ask him what the Hade-sorry, Pluto he did that for."

"You tell him, Joel," Leo cheered. "I gotta go catch you with the rest. Have fun in the First Cohort."

"Thanks!" she called as he ran down to Piper.

_'Okay now, where is the Fifth Cohort exactly?' _she looked around. _'I'll go ask that girl.'_

Joel approached a girl with a SPQR tattoo showing she's been here ten years. She swayed along to unheard music as she walked. Like she had nowhere to be and all the time in the world to get there.

"Excuse me," Joel said, tapping the girl on the shoulder. "Can you tell me where the Fifth Cohort is?"

She smiled. "I'd say I could, after living in there for about ten years."

"Wow," Joel said in awe, walking along side her. "That's pretty amazing."

"Thanks! And I'd like to welcome you to Camp Jupiter. I'm Gwendolyn, but everyone calls me Gwen or Centurion Shish-kebob."

"Why do they call you that?"

Gwen laughed. "I'll tell you another time, 'Kay?"

She nodded.

"You know, you're the first person to welcome me?" Joel said.

"Don't worry about it," Gwen waved her off. "Romans aren't always friendly."

"I can tell..." Joel mumbled.

"As Reyna would say, 'It's not very Roman of you.'"

Both of them laughed. Making their way to the Fifth Cohort. Gwen led her inside and shushed the campers inside.

"Hey, this is Joel. She's are you camper in the Fifth Cohort," Gwen introduced, like they already didn't know. "Joel, this is the Fifth Cohort. Make yourself at home!"

"Thanks," Joel said, quietly. She wasn't a fan of having all eyes on her.

"You can sleep on the top bunk of my bed, sound cool?" Gwen gestured to the bed.

Joel nodded, content with the bubbly Gwen. She seemed nice enough, compared to some of the others. She told Joel that she intended a college in New Rome, but visited Camp Jupiter frequently. Gwen told of how much she loved New Rome and the camp and how they were her favorite places to be.

"You feel...accepted here, you know?" she said, trying to explain the feelings.

Joel nodded, not completely lying. As a Greek, it felt odd for her to be here, but at the same time, she'd never felt more at home.

**I'm sorry if my chapters are a bit short. I'll try to get them longer as soon as possible. Thanks for reading!**


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